Paper Plate Animal Crafts

I never really need an excuse to do crafts but it’s definitely fun to do them based on themes or the holidays!

National Pet Day is today (April 11th) and my son and I went BIG on the pet crafts yesterday.

The great thing about these pet crafts are that you can do them any day of the year! Your child might learn an animal – make a craft. They might see an animal at the zoo they love – make a craft. They might even find an animal they love in a book so you – make a craft!

We made a turtle, fish in a fish bowl, rabbit, pig, cat, and dog but the possibilities are endless!

*You might be see a mini potato in pics…… my son wanted a sponge and I couldn’t find ours so we swapped it for a potato! Seriously.. it worked.. but 100% optional. He liked painting with a paintbrush best!

*You can make your animals any colors you’d like or use other materials. I am just writing what we used for our animals I have pictured!

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Bunny Paper Plate Craft

What You Need:

Paper Plates

Non-Toxic Washable Paint (gray, pink, black)

Paint Brush or Sponge

Google Eyes

Construction Paper (white & pink)

Glue

Tape

What To Do:

Quick Tip – If you’re planning on doing more than 1 pet, I suggest doing ALL the painting before you go back and do the faces, ears, and so on.

Make a color palette on a paper plate of the colors your child wants to use for their bunny. We made a white, light gray, and dark gray color palette. (I just mixed white and black to give us another color option)

Have your child use a paintbrush or sponge to paint the entire paper plate, or at least have them try their best. This was the first pet we did and my son got better at covering the plate as we painted.

Let dry.

While drying you can start another pet, or start the ears.

Use white construction paper to draw an ear shape. Depending on the age of your child, decide who cuts it out.

Draw an inner ear shape on pink construction paper for the ears.

Glue the pink inner ear onto the white ear.

Since the paper plate curves, I found it easier to take the ears from the back instead of using glue.

Glue on google eyes.

Paint a pink nose and black whiskers.

Book Inspiration

Turtle Paper Plate Craft

What You Need:

Paper Plates

Non-Toxic Washable Paint (dark green, light green, white)

Paint Brush or Sponge

Google Eyes

Construction Paper (green)

Glue

Tape

Tissue Paper (optional)

What To Do:

Quick Tip – If you’re planning on doing more than 1 pet, I suggest doing ALL the painting before you go back and do the faces, ears, and so on.

Make a color palette on a paper plate of the colors your child wants to use for their turtle. We made a dark green, light green, and lime green color palette.

Have your child use a paintbrush or sponge to paint the entire paper plate, or at least have them try their best. The turtle should be the plate turned upside down so it looks like a shell, but my son refused to paint the back.

Let dry.

While drying you can start another pet, or start the head, legs, and tail.

Draw 4 legs, a turtle head shape, and a triangle tail on green construction paper. Cut them out.

Use tape to add them to your turtle.

Add google eyes to your turtle’s head.

Use cut out green tissue paper for extra texture and fun!

Book Inspiration

Pig Paper Plate Craft

What You Need:

Paper Plates

Non-Toxic Washable Paint (pink, white, black)

Paint Brush or Sponge

Google Eyes

Construction Paper (pink)

Glue

Tape

What To Do:

Quick Tip – If you’re planning on doing more than 1 pet, I suggest doing ALL the painting before you go back and do the faces, ears, and so on.

Make a color palette on a paper plate of the colors your child wants to use for their pig. We made a pink and white color palette.

Have your child use a paintbrush or sponge to paint the entire paper plate, or at least have them try their best.

Let dry.

While drying you can start another pet, or start the nose and ears.

Draw a circle shape on construction paper for the nose. Cut out.

Draw pig ear shapes on construction paper. Cut out.

Tape on pig ears from the back and glue on pig nose.

Glue on google eyes.

Use black paint or a black sharpie to make pig nostrils and pig mouth.

What You Need:

What To Do:

Quick Tip – If you’re planning on doing more than 1 pet, I suggest doing ALL the painting before you go back and do the faces, ears, and so on.

Make a color palette on a paper plate of the colors your child wants to use for their dog. We made a brown, white, gray, and black color palette. (The same as our Murphy – pictured above!)

Have your child use a paintbrush or sponge to paint the entire paper plate, or at least have them try their best.

Let dry.

While drying you can start another pet, or start the ears.

Tape on ears behind the plate.

Glue on google eyes.

Paint on nose and mouth.

Book Inspiration

Fish Paper Plate Craft

What You Need:

Paper Plates

Non-Toxic Washable Paint (Light blue, white, green)

Paint Brush or Sponge

Google Eye

Construction Paper (Orange)

Glue

Liquid glue (optional)

Acini Di Pepe Pasta (optional)

Green food dye (optional)

Paint Tape (optional)

What To Do:

Quick Tip – If you’re planning on doing more than 1 pet, I suggest doing ALL the painting before you go back and do the faces, ears, and so on.

Make a color palette on a paper plate of the colors your child wants to use for their dog. We made a light blue and white color palette)

Use the painting tape to cover the top of the paper plate. (see picture) This is so your child only paints 3/4 of the plate so it will look like a fish bowl.

Have your child use a paintbrush or sponge to paint the entire paper plate, or at least have them try their best.

Use an extra plate or construction paper to paint seaweed. Cut out and glue in bowl.

Let dry.

While drying you can start another pet, or start the fish. Trace your kiddos hand on orange or any color construction paper. Cut out, add eye, and place in fish bowl.

Pull off tape.

Optional: Put a little bit of pasta in a bowl with a drop of two of food dye. Mix up. Add glue to the bottom of your fish bowl where you want sand or rocks. Put over table cloth, sink, or garbage and shake pasta onto picture. Shake of extra pasta and let dry.

Book Inspiration

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